To Tug Or Not To Tug?

[TerraNik]

Actually this confused me too.

My pup has a tug toy but I don't tug on it. She just pulls it around the yard.

She plays fetch and I've taught her to drop the ball, I just say "drop it" and she releases, if she pulls I won't throw it again.

I got told not to tug because it might encourage her to chase the chooks??

That's a new one... Sorry but I think that tugging is perfectly fine, as long as the pup knows the rules (as I wrote in a previous post). Tugging has had no negative effects on my beagle (ATB), keeshond or lappie - it's all been positive!

My rules:

1. If I ask you to let go, let go. If you don't, tug goes away and it's the end of the game.

2. If you miss and you get my hand, end of game.

3. If you go for anything other than the tug (e.g. clothes), end of game.

[Just Midol]

that is great M!

It's confusing sometimes to wade through conflicting advice but you've got a great source of dependable knowledge there

Our puppy preschool recommended no tug of war until they knew the "leave it" command, IMO it's an invaluable command to teach!

I teach out and leave it by playing tug.

[Mohican]

Yes, I agree you can play tug with your rules TerraNik - pups quickly learn how to get what they want by following the rules! I've found Mohican way too smart for his own good lol.

And I def agree with you LM that you can teach them to leave with tug too. I would rather teach them whilst they're young because chances are one day they may learn how great it is to pull things. And I found with Mohican that he tugs on my trousers much less when I give him immediate time-outs - but it has to be consistent for him to realise. I knew consistency was important as in, EVERY TIME, but it wasn't until my OH came back from his parents place to say that Mohican wouldn't come inside when his gran opened the door until he went over and gave him the 'okay' command and hand signal! We've been making him sit to enter and exit doors since we brought him home. Quite unbelievable at first, but just shows that if you do it every time it sinks in after a couple of weeks. I was very proud he behaved so well on a visit

[Just Midol]

OHhh.

Don't do any tug work when teething. If he bites and hurts his mouth he might not ever be willing to play tug again.

[Leema]

Tug is a great game. We have a cue for surrendering the item, and I don't think this game is problematic if you can stop the dog tugging when needed.

[huski]

Tug is a great game. We have a cue for surrendering the item, and I don't think this game is problematic if you can stop the dog tugging when needed.

I agree, as it teaches the dog that you control the resource and they play with it when you say.

ETA: We also have an 'ok' command that tells the dog when it can grab the toy, as well as 'give' to surrender the toy.

Edited November 9, 2008 by huski